6 of 6 | Chapter 17

Despite the fact that Zhiqiang Gao had suffered an immense and unprecedented defeat, he decided to make one last attempt to seize control and ordered all units stationed nearby to attack the enforcement pole platform. The president observed events from the presidential palace balcony as his pilots obeyed in desperation, trying to make something of the situation.

Suddenly, thousands of Demon fighters crowded the air over Beijing and flooded the entire city.

What seemed fast in the wide open wilderness of the Tarim Basin, seemed more like a supernatural phenomenon above the city. ASEC units left Chinese forces no chance of survival, grabbing fighters from the air, dragging them down into abnormally large public squares, and tearing them to pieces in front of a frantically escaping public. Cameo units added to the imposing atmosphere with their presence alone, when they arrived to remove the twisted wreckage and chastised enemy pilots.

Much of the city was reigned by panic and President Zhiqiang Gao's own military guards tried to drag him from the balcony as the ASEC command ship zeroed in over the palace.

The president and his men rushed into the building and attempted to disappear into a hidden security corridor, then one side of the building was ripped open with a deafening rumble, and robots filled the room.

They effortlessly pulled the body guards off the president, leaving them no time to engage their weapons, then they flew out through the ragged wall to transport them northwards towards cooler climes.

One of the SRT units moved towards the president as the man fell heavily to the ground. The robot emitted a blood curdling sound and Zhiqiang Gao shouted at the sight of its approach, trying to cover his face like a frightened child. “No, please! Give me a chance!”

“Those upon whom you rained your fire, did you heed their pleading? Did you give them a chance?” The robot roared with such intensity that plaster fell from the ceiling and dropped down upon the stricken president.

At the sound of the inhuman voice, the president went numb with shock, his mouth working like a stunned fish. The SRT unit stopped in front of him and watched the barely conscious man. Something flashed across the robot's visual receptor, as if manifesting signs of innate intelligence, yet it was otherwise.

Steersman, controlling the robot from his office in Europe, had seen everything that his robot had seen. His words were being conveyed in the robots artificial voice. Back in his office, Steersman's face was lined with anxiety and the immense strain he had been under, but the tension abated and the lines smoothed away.

“We have cleansed the city. The enforcement pole platform is moving out!” The sound of Murinko's voice echoed out of the speakers. Steersman instructed the robot to turn around and watched as the dour commander made his way closer in the Chinese President's state room.

“All right. Take Zhiqiang Gao to Brussels. He will have to answer to an international criminal court,” said Steersman in the office. “He is their problem now!” rang out the robot voice.

Murinko looked into the face of the machine, and even he felt a chill at hearing the piercing artificial voice relaying Steersman's words.

“Copy that. We'll be ready to go as soon as we've ensured order in the city. The upheaval has been pretty huge,” he said, and was lifted up into the command ship by gravitational radius.